Table 1 Occurrence of different types of microplastics in freshwater environment
From: Microplastic contamination, an emerging threat to the freshwater environment: a systematic review
S. No. | Locations | Detection methods | Concentration of microplastics | Type/color/size of microplastics | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Effluent from West Hornsby, NSW, Australia | FTIR spectroscopy | 1.0 particle/L | PEST, PMMA and PA | (Browne et al. 2011) |
2 | Huron Lake, Canada | FTIR spectroscopy and SEM | 408.0 items/m2 | PE and PP | (Zbyszewski and Corcoran 2011) |
3 | Laurentian Great Lakes, USA | Visual identification and SEM | 0.0043 particles/m2 | Microbeads; blue, white and gold; < 1.0 × 10−3 m | (Eriksen et al. 2013) |
4 | Hovsgol Lake, Mongolia | Sieving and light microscopy | 0.020 particles/m2 | Fragments, films, foams and pellets | (Free et al. 2014) |
5 | Tamar Estuary, Southwest England | Sieving and FTIR spectroscopy | 0.028 particles/m3 | Fragments and debris; PE, PS and PP; < 1.0 × 10−3 m to 3.0 × 10−3 m | (Sadri and Thompson 2014) |
6 | Yangtze Estuary System, China | Floatation and stereo microscopy | 4137.3 ± 2461.5 and 0.167 ± 0.138 numbers/m3 | Fibers, granules and films; transparent and colored | (Zhao et al. 2014) |
7 | Seine River and Marne River, Paris, France | Stereo microscopy | 3.0 to 108.0 particles/m3 | Fibre; 100.0 × 10–6 m to 5000.0 × 10–6 m | (Dris et al. 2015) |
8 | Various Lake, Switzerland | Visual identification | 2.0 × 103 particles/m3 | Fragments, pellets, cosmetic beads, fibers, films, and foams; PP, PE and PS | (Faure et al. 2015) |
9 | Pearl River Estuary, Hong Kong | Visual identification and sieving | 5595.0Â items/m2 | Fragments; EPS | (Fok and Cheung 2015) |
10 | Rhine River, Switzerland, France, Germany, Netherlands | Microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy | 0.89 particles/m2 | Fragments, fibers and spherules; PS, PP, PEST, PMMA and PVC | (Mani et al. 2015) |
11 | Urban Estuaries of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa | Visual identification | 745.4 ± 129.7 × 10–3 particles/500L | Fragments and fibres | (Naidoo et al. 2015) |
12 | Urban Estuaries, China | Micro-Raman spectroscopy | 100.0 to 4100.0 numbers/m3 | Fibers and granules; PP, PE, PVC and PTFE | (Zhao et al. 2015) |
13 | Great Lake, USA | Visual identification, FTIR spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy | 0.05 to 32.0 particles/m3 | Fragments, beads, fibers, films and foam | (Baldwin et al. 2016) |
14 | WWTPs, Los Angeles, USA | Microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy |  ~ 0.93 × 106 microplastics | Fragments; PET; blue; 90.0 × 10–6 m to 300.0 × 10–6 m in width and 100.0 × 10–6 m to 600.0 × 10–6 m in length | (Carr et al. 2016) |
15 | Jurujuba Cove, Brazil | Sieving, microscopy and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy | 16.4 items/m3 | Fragments; blue, green, red, yellow and orange; PP and PE; 1.0 × 10–3 m | (Castro et al. 2016) |
16 | Chiusi and Bolsena Lake, Italy | Visual identification and microscopy | 2.68 to 3.36 particles/m3 in Chiusi Lake and 0.82 to 4.42 particles/m3 in Bolsena Lake | Fragments and fibers; PE, PP and PET; < 5.0 × 10–3 m | (Fischer et al. 2016) |
17 | Taihu Lake, China | Micro-FTIR spectroscopy, SEM/EDS | 11.0 to 234.6 items/kg in sediment and 3.4 to 25.8 items/L in surface water | Fibers; cellophane, PET, PEST and PP; blue, white and transparent; 100.0 × 10–6 m | (Su et al. 2016) |
18 | Tibet Plateau Lake, China | SEM and Raman spectroscopy | 8.0 ± 14.0 to 563.0 ± 1219.0 items/m2 | Fragments, foams, sheets and lines; PS, PP, PVC, PET and PE | (Zhang et al. 2016) |
19 | Lagoon-Channel of Bizerte, Northern Tunisia | Stereo microscopy | 3000.0 to18,000.0 items/kg in sediment | Fragments, fibers and pellets; red, white, black, green and blue; 0.3 × 10–3 m to 5.0 × 10–3 m | (Abidli et al. 2017) |
20 | Winnipeg Lake, Canada | SEM/EDS | 0.19 particles/m2 | Fibers, film and foam | (Anderson et al. 2017) |
21 | Superior Lake, Huron Lake and Erie Lake USA | SEM/EDS | 2.0 fragments/m2 | Fragments, films, foams, spheres and fibers; > 106.0 × 10–6 m | (Cable et al. 2017) |
22 | North Shore Channel, Michigan Lake, USA | Pyrolysis-GCMS | 3.36 to 6.42 particles/m3 | Foams, films, fragments and pellets; PP, PS and PE | (Hoellein et al. 2017) |
23 | Thames River Basin, UK | Visual identification, flotation and Raman spectroscopy | 660.0 particles/kg in sediment | Fragments and fibers; PP, PEST and polyarylsulphone; 1.0 × 10–3 m to 4.0 × 10–3 m | (Horton et al. 2017a) |
24 | Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers, Australia | Visual identification | 79% microplastics in Yarra River and 66% microplastics in Maribyrnong River | PS; < 2.0 × 10–3 m | (Kowalczyk et al. 2017) |
25 | Amsterdam Canal, Netherlands | Microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy | 48.0 to 187.0 particles/L | Fibers and spheres; 10.0 × 10–6 m to 5000.0 × 10–6 m | (Leslie et al. 2017) |
26 | South Africa, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia | Density separation and FTIR spectroscopy | 100.0 to 1900.0 pieces/kg in sediment | PEP, PS, PET, PP, PAK and PE | (Matsuguma et al. 2017) |
27 | Hudson River, USA | Micro-FTIR spectroscopy | 0.98Â microfibers/L | Cotton, PET, PP, fluoro-polymer/teflon and nitrocellulose/clay; blue, black, transparent and red | (Miller et al. 2017) |
28 | Vembanad Lake, Kerala, India | Density separation and micro-Raman spectroscopy | 252.80 ± 25.76 particles/m2 | PE | (Sruthy and Ramasamy 2017) |
29 | Beijiang River, China | SEM/EDS and micro-FTIR spectroscopy | 178.0 ± 69.0 to 544.0 ± 107.0 items/kg sediment | PP and PE; blue and brown | |
30 | 20 Urban Lakes, Hanjiang River and Yangtze River, Wuhan, China | Stereoscopic microscopy, SEM and FTIR spectroscopy | 1660.0 ± 639.1 to 8925.0 ± 1591.0 numbers/m3 | Fiber; PP and PET; < 2.0 × 10–3 m | |
31 | Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), China | Micro-Raman spectroscopy | 25.0 to 300.0 numbers/kg in the sediments and 1597.0 to 12,611.0 numbers/m3 in surface water | Fibers; PP, PE and PS; transparent | (Di and Wang 2018) |
32 | Seine River and Marne River, Paris France | Stereo microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy | 100.6 ± 99.9 fibers/m−3 in the Marne River and 48.5 ± 98.5, 27.9 ± 26.3, 27.9 ± 40.3 and 22.1 ± 25.3 fibers/m−3 in the Seine River | Fibers; PET, PP, PA and PUR; blue | (Dris et al. 2018) |
33 | Charleston Harbor and Winyah Bay Estuaries, South Carolina, USA | SEM and FTIR spectroscopy | 221.0 ± 25.6 particles/m2 in sediment samples of Winyah Bay and 413.8 ± 76.7 particles/m2 in sediment samples of Charleston Harbor | Fragments, fibers, foams and spheres; white, green, grey, blue, black and red | (Gray et al. 2018) |
34 | Western Superior Lake, USA | Microscopy, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and pyrolysis GC–MS | 0.0 to 110 000.0 × 10–6 particles/m2 | Fragments, fibers, and films; PVC, PP, PE, PET, PS and PDMS | (Hendrickson et al. 2018) |
35 | River sediments, Shanghai, China | Density separation, microscopy and micro-FTIR spectroscopy | 802.0 items/kg dry weight | Spheres, fibers and fragments; PP, PEST, rayon; red, white, transparent and blue | (Peng et al. 2018) |
36 | Maggiore Lake, Iseo Lake and Garda Lake, Italy | Visual identification, stereomicroscope and FTIR spectroscopy | 40,000.0 × 10–6 particles/m2 in Iseo Lake, 39,000.0 × 10–6 particles/m2 in Maggiore Lake and 25,000.0 × 10–6 particles/m2 in Garda Lake | Fragments, pellets, fibers and films; PP, EPS and PE; 1.0 × 10–3 m to 5.0 × 10–3 m | (Sighicelli et al. 2018) |
37 | Wind Farm in the Yellow Sea, China | Sieving and micro-FTIR spectroscopy | 2.58 ± 1.14 × 103 items/kg in the sediment and 0.330 ± 0.278 items/m3 in the surface water | Fibers, granules and films; PET, cellophane, PE and PVC; black and transparent | (Wang et al. 2018) |
38 | Danjiangkou Reservoir, China | Micro-Raman spectroscopy | 0.47 to 15.02 × 103 microplastic/m3 in surface water and 15.0 to 40.0 microplastic/kg in wastewater | Fibers; PP | (Di et al. 2019) |
39 | Wei River Basin, China | FTIR spectroscopy | 3.67 to 10.7 items /L | Fibers; PE, PVC and PS | (Ding et al. 2019) |
40 | Suzhou River, Huangpu River and Yangtze Estuary, China | Stereo microscopy and micro-FTIR spectroscopy | 0.08 to 7.4 items/L | Fibers; PES, rayon and PP; blue, red | (Luo et al. 2019) |
41 | Flemish River, Belgium | Microscopy and spectroscopy | Â | Foam, film, fiber and fragment; blue, green, red and yellow; EVA, PP, PET, PVC, cellophane, PVA and PA | (Slootmaekers et al. 2019) |
42 | Feilaixia Reservoir in the Beijiang River, China | Visual identification, micro-FTIR spectroscopy and GC–MS | 0.56 ± 0.45 items/m3 | Foams, films, fragments and fibres; PP, PS, EPS, PVC, PE and PET | (Tan et al. 2019) |
43 | Pearl River along Guangzhou city and Pearl River Estuary, China | Stereo microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy and SEM | 19,860.0 items/m3Â in urban and 8902.0 items/m3 in the estuary | Films, fragments and fibers; PA and cellophane | (Yan et al. 2019) |
44 | Poyang Lake, China | Visual identification, stereomicroscope and micro-Raman spectroscopy | 5.0 to 34.0 items/L for surface water and 54.0 to 506.0 items/kg for sediments | Fibers, films, pellets and fragments; PP and PE; white, black and transparent; < 0.5 × 10–3 m | (Yuan et al. 2019) |
45 | Yangtze River, China | Stereo microscopy, Raman spectroscopy | 492,000.0 × 10–6 microplastic/m2 | PP, PE, PS, nylon, POM, cellulose and EVA | (Xiong et al. 2019) |
46 | Eight WTWs in England and Wales (UK) | FTIR spectroscopy | 4.9 particles/L in raw water and 0.00011 particles/L in potable water | PE, PET, PP in raw water and PS and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene in potable water | (Johnson et al. 2020) |
47 | Yongjiang River, China | Raman spectroscopy | 500.0 to 7700.0 items/m3 in surface water and from 90.0 to 550.0 items/kg in sediments | PP and PE | (Zhang et al. 2020) |
48 | Vistula River, Poland | Raman spectroscopy | Â | PE, PP, PA and PC; white, blue and red | (Rytelewska and DÄ…browska 2022) |